Was PSP really a miracle ?
It went through a cycle of drought because Sony ignored the platform. As long as Sony is behind the platform, they will be able to do something with their partners to grow it.
Sony didn't handle the PSP well and didn't go get support for it. They assumed that everyone would just put games on it because it's a Sony product. They seem to be doing the same thing for the Vita.
The fact that the PSP became what it did was a complete miracle. That platform was dead. And I felt about it the same way I feel about the Vita now. But then Capcom came along and released this MonHun on it. The PS2 Monster Hunter wasn't particularly huge, but the PSP one somehow was. And then the PSP exploded in popularity with core gamers as the DS was waning because devs just had trouble selling on it.
The PS2 is gone and the PS3 was too much of a financial investment for these smaller Japanese developers. The 360 wasn't a viable option. So the PSP was it.
The stars really did align and a complete fluke happened. That's how the PSP became what it did.
I can't possibly sit here and expect this type of thing to happen again for the Vita. The 3DS actually has 3rd party support this time. These games are doing well sales-wise. The PS3 is now at a point where small developers can make games for it with reasonable budgets. MonHun is on the 3DS. No announcement for the Vita.
The Vita has none of the factors that the PSP had that made it a success.
At this point, it would take a miracle for the Vita to become a proper successor for the PSP. How many miracles can you reasonably expect to happen to Sony?
The Vita is selling ~10k units according to Media Create. That number is going to go down. If you're a developer looking at those numbers, what incentive do you have to put games on it? The only games coming out for the Vita are the ones that were in dev before these numbers were out there. The only Vita software on the Media Create chart was Unit 13 at like 8k units sold.
If that isn't grim, I don't know what is.